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Ms Gill and Mr Simon said in a joint statement: “Workers and businesses in the West Midlands need a government that can deliver for Britain in the Brexit negotiations - but the Tories are failing.”

Brexit talks have been delayed by the EU’s refusal to begin discussing a trade deal until agreement is reached on issues including how much money the UK owes the EU; the status of EU citizens currently living in the UK, and the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

And the European Parliament voted to continue the delay.

It approved a motion which “calls on the European Council, unless there is a major breakthrough in line with this resolution in all three areas during the fifth negotiation round, to decide at its October meeting to postpone its assessment on whether sufficient progress has been made.”

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In practice this means that there can be no talks about trade, because the EU is refusing to discuss a deal until it decides that “sufficient progress” has been made on other issues.

The motion also included a section complaining that the UK had not offered “concrete proposals” about how much it will pay the EU, and said "substantial progress in that area is required before entering into discussions on other issues, including the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom."

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised the UK “will honour commitments it has made during the period of our membership”, which is understood to mean she is willing to pay around €20bn. However, the EU is reported to be asking for between €50bn to €100bn.

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Ms Gill and Mr Simon said: “There’s still time for this crisis-hit Tory government to deliver an agreement to allow the next stage of talks to begin, but it is their own failure in negotiations, not a European Parliament resolution, that’s preventing talks from continuing.”

They came under fire from Conservative MP Michael Fabricant (Con Lichfield), who pointed out that Mr Simon had stood for the post of West Midlands mayor earlier this year.

He said: “Isn’t it remarkable that Sion Simon, who proclaimed in the mayoral election that he wanted to put the West Midlands first in ensuring a good trade deal with Europe, has now put party before principle and voted against any trade deal?”

MEPs first held a series of votes on each part of the motion. Labour MEPs abstained on the vote on delaying trade talks.

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They then held a vote on the entire motion, including the section insisting that there should be no talks before a “major breakthrough” takes place. This time, the Labour MEPs voted in favour of the motion.

Two Conservative MEPs who voted for the motion were disciplined by their party.

South West MEP Julie Girling and South East MEP Richard Ashworth were both suspended.

But Labour is taking no action against its MEPs.

A spokesman for the European Parliamentary Labour Party said: "Labour MEPs did not vote in favour of the part of the resolution that dealt with whether the negotiations should progress, but Labour MEPs supported the final resolution in an effort to put pressure on all sides to make progress on the vital issues of citizens' rights and Northern Ireland ahead of the October European Council meeting.

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"With one more round of negotiations until EU heads of government meet at the end of this month, this resolution should be a wake-up call to the Tory government that it is time they got serious about Brexit and stopped putting the unity of their party before the future of our country."